Thursday, March 29, 2007

My sweet wife Deborah bought me a little Canon A540 last year. I wanted a small camera that I could easily carry, with a decent wide zoom, and that would do 800 ISO.

Well I got my little Canon and I love it. It goes where I go. Works pretty good in low light. Some folks might mind the noise you get with the high film speed equivalent, but, hey, I used to shoot Tri-X at 3200 and process in Ethol Blue. Only old photographers know what that means.

My wife, family and friends hate this camera. I am always shooting with it. Lot of pictures get dumped, but get some really cool ones, too. Back in the old days I carried a Leitz CL, a small 35mm camera that was quite, and worked well in low light. A good camera to play with. My A540 does much the same, but some ways even better. The lens is not as sharp, but now I can shoot in color when I want to, and I don't have to reload every 36 exposures, or develop film. And I can change film speed without wasting a roll of film.

In some ways it makes me work harder. Cameras and lenses are tools. The eye still finds the photo and the best composition, for sure. But a good DSLR with a motordrive and different lenses can make it easier. Can make you lazier. Guess it is a big dose of simplicity.

I have set a goal to shoot at least one photo for myself every day. If you have a camera handy, and don't mind people thinking you are a bit weird, you can do it.These are photos really for myself. Get stuck in traffic, out comes the camera. Shooting reflections in the rearview mirrors, light reffracting in the rain streaks on the glass. Just playtime.